Czar Nicholas II
1895 - 1917
CONTINUED ABSOLUTISM
When Alexander III died he was succeeded by his son, Nicholas II. Nicholas was weak willed and as reactionary as his father. He made von Plehve his Minister of the Interior and allowed him to introduced extremely repressive measures. Secret spies were everywhere; churches other than the Orthodox had much of their property confiscated or were closed. Persecutions, known as pogroms, against the jews reached their climax in the massacre at Kishinev in 1903.
During the later part of the nineteenth century, the Industrial Revolution begun to affect Russia. This was especially true following the Franco-Russian Alliance, which made it possible for Russia to get loans from France. The vast coal and iron deposits in the Ural region and in the Ukraine were developed, and factories were built. The serfs left their villages and went to the cities to seek employment. The trans-Siberian Railroads were built, and communication between St. Petersburg and Vladivostok was established.
PEOPLE DIVIDED INTO POLITICAL GROUPS
As all other countries, This urbanization of the people led to demands for reforms. The people were now divided into two classes. There was a middle members of the nobility; these, who come to be known as Constitutional Democrats, wanted a constitutional government and civil liberties such as freedom of religion, of the press and of assembly. The other class, known as the Social Democrats, was made up of laborers; they were followers of Karl Marx and believed that mines and factories should be owned by the government and operated for the benefit of the workers. Though they agreed as to their aims ,the two classes were split in their ideas as to the means of attainment. One group, the Mensheviks, believed that only democratic methods should be used, and that they could not attain their aims without further industrialization of the country. The other group, the Bolsheviks, believed that socialism should be introduced immediately and by whatever means thought necessary.
RUSSO – JAPANESE WAR
1894 – 1895
While Russia was occupied with internal dissension she was confronted with a year with Japan. During the years 1894 – 1895 Japan had waged war in China, forcing her to recognize the independence of Korea and to cede to Japan the peninsula of Liaotung. Russia, Germany, and France forced Japan to return Liaotung to China. Then Russia got the lease of Dairen and Port Arthur from China; she also gained the right to build a railroad across Manchuria and then threatened to take Korea. This aroused the Japanese, who on Febuary 5, 1904,suddenly attacked the Russian warships at Port Arthur. To amazement of the world Japan defeated on the sea and on land; and when on June 9,1905, Theodore Roosevelt at the request of Japan offered to act as mediator, Russia agreed, By the Treaty of Portsmouth, signed September 5,1905, Japan received Port Arthur and the southern half of the island of Sakhalin. Korea become independent but was left to China.
REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA
"Bloody Sunday"
Russian people won battle of rights
The Russian people had been strongly opposed toward with Japan. When they learned of the defeats inflicted, they hated their government more than ever and grew violent. The Czar was urged to grant more liberties and a national assembly; this he refused to do,
and he appointed new minister to take von Plehve's place. Strikes and uprisings followed. In January, 1905, an Orthodox priest led the group of strikers to the Czar, to ease their sufferings. These people came dressed in their Sunday best and unarmed, yet they were fired upon by the guards and hundreds were killed or wounded. This incident, on what came to be known as "Bloody Sunday," so angered the people that more strikes followed and many officials were murdered.
The Czar now consented to grant some reforms. He promised religious toleration, permitted the use of the Polish Language in private schools, and relaxed the laws against the Jews. The peasants were relieved of any further payment on their lands, and constitutional government was promised.
In 1905 lished a parliament knowned as the Duma. The old Council of State was then made into an upper chamber known as the Council of the Empire, while the Duma become the Lower house. In Finland constitutional government was also established in 1906.
REACTION
The revolutionaries begun to lose of their zeal. The war with Japan had come to an end, and people longed for peace. The various revolutionary factions in many areas began to quarrel among themselves, and the autocratic element took advantage of this. The first Duma was soon dissolved because it tried to deal with affairs which the Czar claimed to be his. The second Duma was also dismissed because it demanded so many reforms, such as improvement of government, extension of education, and the cessation of village control over peasants, but Russia remained an autocratic government under of the Czar until the Revolution of 1917.
MAGNA GREACEA CHARTA CENTRAL EMPOWERMENT
THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1917
Russian people suffered from poor government and leadership
The Czarist government of Russia was autocratic, corrupt, and inefficient. "The Bloody Sunday atrocity" was a striking exampleof the attitude of the government toward the people.Though the Industrial Revolution had some effect on Russia, the country as a whole was still much too backward to cope with modern Germany in war. The soldiers and the civilians who had been drafted in to the army were poorly equipped and badly led. Often they did not have sufficient food or propper clothing. Already miserable, defeat broke their morale completely, and they were ready for desertion or mutiny. At home conditions were little better Food were scarce and people were demanding higher wages. Strikes followed, and the streets were filled with mobs.
Czar forced to abdicate
The Bread Riot
Instead of taking the advice of the Duma to organized a responsible government, the Czar dismissed all liberals from office and ordered the mobs dispersed. On March 12,1917, bread riots broke out in St. Pettersburg; the garrison refused to fire on people and actually went over to their side. The Czar was now forced to abdicate. He and his whole family were arrested, imprisoned, and later shot and burned... Thus the Romanov House come to an END....
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